The country side inspiration and the resulting contemporary sound track, written by Tom Zé and José Miguel Wisnik, for 1997’s Parabelo, prompted the choreographer from Grupo Corpo to bring into life that, which he himself refers to, as his “most Brazilian and regional” creation.
From working and devotion chants, from the memory of the rhythmic baião and from the exuberant and an ever present, entangled, rhythmic points and counterpoints, emerges choreography full of hip swaying and feet stamping. It’s a ravishing statement of maturity and of the expressive teachings, developed throughout many years, by the maker of Missa do Orfanato and Sete ou Oito Peças para um Ballet
The aesthetic of the votive offerings, from country side churches, inspire Fernando Velloso and Paulo Pederneiras in the creation of the 15 meter X 8 meter panels, which provide support for the ballet’s stage setting.
With the intensity of the colors veiled by black tulle and unveiled only in the small and imperative space of the ballet slippers, costume designer Freuse Zechmeister, creates the set of lights and shadows that “dress” the dancers in the first part of PARABELO. And at the explosive ballet finale, the leotards are freed from the veil, showing off the joyous, high temperatures of their colors.

Parabelo is the Portuguese name for the automatic pistol: the "Parabellum", derived from the Latin "Si vis pacem para bellum" (If you want peace, prepare for war). The name identifies a choreography that stands for struggle and reconciliation, poverty and wealth, barrenness and fertility - and thus for what Brazil is all about.
For this choreography, which he believes is most rooted in his native Brazil, Rodrigo Pederneiras thought of his country's "bottomless cavern": the sun-scorched earth and endless black forests. To wrest life from them - this is what constitutes the enormous vitality of a nation that draws its strength from the extremes. The intense colors and the black tulle behind which the dancers are hidden in the first part symbolize this contradiction.
Only the tiny space left free for the feet initially offers a "glimpse of light" and an inkling of what is hidden behind the somber veil. It is not until the explosive finale that the jerseys are freed from the shadows; revealing a love of life and the high-tempered colors of Brazil.
The soundtrack was composed by two icons of local contemporary music. The postmodern sounds of Tom Zé combine with gentle "poetic pop" by Zé Miguel Wisnik. Set to work and prayer songs, as well as lashings of sophisticated, intricate rhythms, the result is a choreography full of dynamism and physicality, and a ravishing confession of life that finds its way back to the innocence of exuberant movement in the ripeness of experience.

In this piece inspired by Brazilian folklore, ritual images alternate with whirling group actions in which the flowing elegance and nonchalance of all movements fascinates anew.
Stuttgarter Zeitung

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